Can I be charged for a load that I did not agree to pick up?

Aren't landstar and mercer. To name a few.

1099's?

 

Wait!!

If he does not have a contract which is a 1099 driver, he is then an employee - PERIOD!

 

How large of a trucking company is this and how long in business?. I would think long and hard and review every single piece of paper you signed with this company. Unless this is some fairly new company that does not understand legal issues my guess is they feel that they can legally enforce what they are telling you to do. If you are 100% certain that you did not sign anything requiring you to take the load then get an attorney and sue the crap out of them. If in fact you did sign something then suck it up and deal with it.

 

So 1099's aren't illegal. As per most of this thread.

 

No, they are not illegal if the rules are followed, one is a contract and two is you can't force a contractor to do work they don't want to do.

 

They are illegal if you drive a company's truck
without a lease agreement.

 

Fill out IRS form SS-8, let them decide whether you're contractor or employee. If employee, file wage claim. Or file wage claim also at time of filling out form SS-8.

 

Yes its a mess, granted they are counting on one of two things.
You just let them take your money. OR you realize that it's a big mess and you walk away finding it so hard to collect your money you call it a loss
Notice in both they keep your money!

 

Sorry, I didn't see this post before I said the same thing you apparently already knew. It does suck, but on the bright side it isn't going to cost you any money except maybe postage to mail something to the IRS or Dept of Labor. Never know, they may end up determining the company owes you more than you're even aware of. That was the case for me once. Almost double what I was figuring, still to this day don't know how they arrived at the number they did with the wage claim.